1. Field
The following description relates to a technology of protecting a mobile communication terminal from an abnormal or unintended operation of an application program installed over a platform of the mobile communication terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a platform refers to system environment including a framework for executing application programs. Recently, in order to supply various and advantageous services to a user, an open platform has been introduced.
For example, like the App Store provided by Apple Inc., numerous developers can upload applications developed according to open platform protocols onto a site having functions similar to those of the App Store, and users can freely download applications from the site for free or by paying a small fee to install the application. Thus, the users can be provided with the various functions and services.
Although such an open service environment may provide users with various services and functions, the open service environment may cause user information to become exposed and cause virus infection and fatal system defects due to malicious applications.
In other words, since applications can call all functions of an application program interface (API) of the open platform, the leakage of user information or abnormal charging may be caused. For example, a user may install a malicious application pretending to have only an alarm function. However, when the malicious application is executed, or after the malicious application has been installed, the malicious application may call a platform API enabling access to the address book of the user to acquire the list of the address book without the knowledge of the user, and then call a platform API enabling access to a network, thereby leaking the information of the address book.